Change of Heart
by Kalina Carnahan
Summary: Rick and Evelyn O'Connell die in a horrible accident leaving Jonathan to raise Alex and four year old Fiona on his own.
1. Default Chapter

Chapter One: The News  
  
The sun was hidden behind dark clouds and Alex O'Connell sighed with disappointment. He sat on the front steps of the mansion his family shared with his Uncle Jon. Thunder rumbled in the distance and the sky opened up, pouring down rain, just as Jonathan stepped outside to stand beside his nephew. "Are you coming inside?" he asked, taking a seat beside Alex who shook his head. Jonathan sighed seeing Alex's fishing gear scattered in the driveway. "I'm sure he's doing something very important. You know you're dad." He said. "Uncle Jon, I give up. Dad never feels like doing anything with me anymore. But when Fiona wants to play, he always does." Alex sighed, kicking a rock. "Well," Jonathan said, "Fiona's still little. She's only four. She doesn't have friends that she can play with like you do." Alex stood up angrily and stomped into the house. "He was mine first Uncle Jon! So were you! She just came along like a queen or something and took everyone. I hate her!" Jonathan followed him in and closed the doors behind him. "Alex," he said, entering the library where Alex had settled into a chair with a book, "Fiona is just a little baby. You're twelve now. You don't need your parents to watch after you every minute like she does." Alex rolled his eyes. "He loves you both the same and you know that." Jonathan finished. There was a moment of silence before Alex answered. "I guess you're right Uncle Jon," he said, thoughtfully. "I don't hate Fiona. I love her, I do. But sometimes I just feel like she's more important than me to everyone." "You know Partner," Jonathan began, "I used to feel the same way about your mum. She followed me everywhere. My parents always seemed to love her more. And then when they died, I was twelve and she was eight and everyone was so worried about her. They were my parents too and I needed someone to worry about me too. But I knew that she would need me very soon, and I was right. Because just three years later our granddad died and then grandmum died of a broken heart and I had to watch out for both of us. " Alex had listened very closely and as soon as Jonathan had finished talking, he stood up and started off toward the stairs..  
"Where are you going?" Jonathan asked.  
"To check on Fiona." He ran up the stairs. Jonathan smiled. As soon as Alex reached Fiona's room there was a knock at the front door. Jonathan shuffled to the door and opened it to find a police officer waiting.  
"Can I help you sir?" Jonathan asked, nervously.  
"Are you Jonathan Carnahan?" the officer asked. Jonathan nodded. "Is something wrong?"  
"Well, " the officer began, "there's no easy way to say this. Your sister and her husband were in an accident. They've both died. As the words floated to his ears Jonathan could feel himself becoming dizzy.  
"I'm sorry," the officer said. Alex came quietly down the stairs holding Fiona's hand.  
"Thank you," Jonathan said quietly, and closed the door. Then he sank to the ground against the wall and passed out. 


	2. Saying Goodbye

Chapter Two: Saying Goodbye  
When Jonathan woke up his face, hair and shirt were wet and Alex and Fiona were staring at him.  
"What is it Uncle Jon? You just passed out." Jonathan stood up, wiping his face off.  
"I'm fine." He said. "Come into the library will you? WE need to talk about something important." He led them into the library and after they'd all sat down he began rubbing his hands together. Alex watched him closely.  
"What' wrong Uncle Jon?" Jonathan looked up at him and forced a smile.  
"Tell me." Alex said. Jonathan looked down for a moment and looked back up with tears in his eyes.  
"Alex," he said, choking back tears, "Your mum and dad were in an accident. They've died." Alex's eyes widened and he jumped off the couch and ran out the front door into the pouring rain. Jonathan followed, running after him.  
"Alex!" he yelled, and fell to his knees grabbing Alex's shoulder. "Alex, where are you going?"  
"Let me go!" Alex yelled through the rain. "I don't believe it, they can't be dead! Not my dad! He can't die! Mum either! They're too strong to die! They would never leave me! They just wouldn't!" He broke down sobbing and hugged Jonathan, crying on his shoulder.  
  
Two days later Alex, Fiona and Jonathan stood alone in the graveyard, dressed in black, as all the other mourners left to get out of the freezing rain. Fiona tugged on Jonathan's pant leg and he picked her up and hugged her. Alex stood a few feet in front of him. Suddenly, Alex screamed. Then he kicked the tombstone with his parents names carved into it. "I hate you!" he screamed, falling to his knees. "Why'd you leave me? Why? It's not fair!"  
Jonathan stood Fiona on the wet ground beside him, and picked up Alex, cradling him against his chest like a baby. He was straining but still held on. Alex wrapped his arms around his uncle's neck and cried.  
"It's not fair Uncle Jon. Why did they the leave me? Why'd they die?" Jonathan held his nephew and searched his mind for something, anything to say.  
"Alex, death is a very complicated thing. I can't explain it."  
"Make them come back!" Alex sobbed. Jonathan began to tear up.  
"I can't." He was beginning to feel like throwing up. Alex and Jonathan cried on each other. They both felt the same overwhelming sense of loss. But both of them had to stop crying and look down when they heard little Fiona speak.  
"Goodbye Mummy, goodbye daddy." She said, "I love you." Jonathan took her hand and they went to the car. Before they drove away, Alex put his hand to the window and through his tears he said, "Goodbye. I love you." 


	3. Chapter Three: GONE!

Chapter Three: GONE!  
  
It had been three months now and everyone seemed to be doing alright . Jonathan was so glad he finally gotten Fiona to understand about God and Heaven. Well, she understood as well as was expected from a four year old.  
But one night as Jonathan was climbing into bed, a blood curdling scream filled the big house and Jonathan and Alex bumped into each other trying to get to Fiona's room. They scrambled down the hallway, both of them arriving at her door at the same moment, and tried to open the door, but it was locked.  
"Fiona? Fiona!!" Jonathan called and beat on the door. They could hear her crying inside. Alex kept jiggling the door knob as if it would magically unlock itself any minute now.  
"Stand back Alex!" Jonathan commanded, and Alex did. With a look of pure determination, he stepped back and threw himself into the door. It didn't budge. He did it twice more before Alex joined in.  
"On the count of three. One...two...three!" They flew into the door at the same time and it flung open and they both fell to the floor. After a moment they jumped up and scrambled to the bed where Fiona hid crying under the covers.  
"Fiona?" Jonathan pulled the blanket off, despite protests from the four-year-old, and pushed her hair back. To his horror he noticed dark bruises on her throat.  
"Oh my God!" he said astonished, "Fiona baby, what happened?" As Fiona cried and cried to speak Alex noticed the window open, where it had been closed before.  
"Uncle Jon, the window's open," Alex said, becoming a little frightened. "It was closed before and Fiona's too small to open it herself." Jonathan examined his niece's neck, then looked helplessly at the open window. "What the bloody hell is going on here?"  
  
It took hours to get Fiona calmed down enough to sleep, and once she was out, Jonathan tucked her in, kissed her on the forehead, and closed the window, making sure to lock it. Fiona's bedroom door was left halfway open.  
Jonathan and Alex walked together down the hallway, both of them deep in thought and slightly disturbed.  
"Uncle Jon, I'm really worried. I want to know what happened, but if she's that scared we won't be able to figure out anything."  
After another moment of deep thought Alex said "Are you sure it was right to leave her alone?" Jonathan thought about his and then started back towards Fiona's room.  
"No," he said, "I don't."  
But when they reached her room the bed lay empty, the closet door was open and so was the window. A rope hung from the sill. Jonathan looked frantically around the room for his niece and found nothing. Nothing but a scribbled note laying on the dresser. He picked it up and read it aloud: "I have the girl. If you ever want to see her again...alive, bring half a million pounds to the old Fisher warehouse at midnight tomorrow night. No cops."  
"Someone's taken her?" Alex said, panicked. " We gotta get her back Uncle Jon! We gotta!" He broke down crying and clung to Jonathan, who hugged him tightly.  
"Don't worry, don't worry." Jonathan said, "I'll get her." A dark glaze came into his eyes and his face hardened.  
"Come hell or high water, or by my death, I'll get your baby sister back alive." 


	4. I'm not your father!

Chapter 4: "I'm not your father!"  
  
Alex lay asleep next Jonathan in his bed. He jumped awake and wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand. He was in the process of getting up when Jonathan screamed and jumped up. Alex's eyes were big and so were Jonathan's.  
"Uncle Jon?"  
Jonathan looked at Alex as though he hadn't seen him in years, then grabbed him and hugged him tightly. Alex wasn't surprised. After a moment, Jonathan let him go.  
He didn't know how long he had been asleep since he hadn't meant to sleep at all, knowing have nightmares. Every night since the deaths, he had been sleepless. Nightmares of Evy and Rick casually driving along suddenly filled with the sound of crashing steel and the most horrible thing he'd ever heard. Evy's cry out would end abruptly as the car flipped endlessly. But he had grown used to this dream, though he still woke up in cold sweats. This nightmare had been much worse.  
He'd been standing in the warehouse, Alex by his side. From a distance he heard Fiona's frightened cries and suddenly, they seized. Panicked, he began to run in the direction the cries had come from. Then he turned, remembering his nephew, just in time to hear a gunshot then see his nephew collapse, bleeding profusely from the chest. As Jonathan fell to his knees the world around him turned to pitch black nothingness and he came to a horrible realization. He was alone.  
  
He dressed and met Alex in the kitchen. Alex drummed his fingers on the table impatiently. Jonathan looked at him and saw that he was expecting something. "What?" Jonathan asked.  
Alex sighed. "What's your plan for getting back my sister?" Jonathan made coffee, and sat beside Alex with his cup. Alex continues staring at him.  
"We go to the warehouse with the money." He said finally.  
"You're going to pay the half a million?" Alex asked, exasperated. Jonathan looked at him, surprised. "Well, what do you suggest we do?"  
"Fight them!" Alex said, as though it was an option all along. "Don't pay them for something a price can not match. Geez Uncle Jon! I thought you were braver than---"  
"I can't fight them!" Jonathan interrupted, yelling, "I can't fight anyone! I'm not the man your father was! I'm not your father! I can't do what he did! So don't talk to me like I'm a Med-Jai or something for Christ's sakes!"  
As soon as he said it, he regretted it, seeing the tears and look of hurt that came over his nephews face. "Alex, " he started to apologize, but Alex was already up the stairs and slamming his bedroom door.  
"Way to go Johnny!", Jonathan said to himself, "You're half of all he has in the world and you have to pull something like that." 


	5. In Fisher's Warehouse

Chapter 5 : Fisher Warehouse  
  
Jonathan and Alex pulled up in front of Fisher's Warehouse at 11:30. They both watched carefully for any other signs of life. Alex gasped and pointed as he saw a red car stop. A man climbed out and dragged a child out behind him. It was Fiona, and she was tied up.  
At 11:55 they climbed out of the car slowly, Jonathan carrying a small trunk. Alex stood before him and Jonathan straightened his coat, and they walked in the warehouse, hand-in-hand. Once inside the doors Jonathan whispered to Alex "Only if it's 100% necessary." Alex nodded, and they continued on.  
There was an open space filled with light about twenty yards in front of them and in the middle of it was little Fiona, crying on the ground. Jonathan started toward her but stopped when he heard a man's voice coming from the shadow's.  
"Stop right there," the voice said, "We have a gun on her. You take one more step, and she's dead."  
Jonathan held out an arm to keep Alex from moving any closer. He searched the darkness frantically for Fiona's captor but could see no one. Not until he stepped out of the darkness.  
"Thomas Godfrey?" Jonathan said in disbelief. "What's your quarrel?" Thomas laughed wryly.  
"You cheated me! I told you I'd get my pay." Jonathan couldn't believe this was happening. Was this idiot actually holding his darling niece hostage over a poker game from six years ago? Yes, he told himself, that's exactly what the idiot's doing.  
"Thomas, that was ten pounds.Ten pounds for my niece's life?"  
"Half a million! I'm charging interest." Thomas yelled. "Now bring that trunk to the edge of the light and set it down. I'll examine it and as long as I haven't been cheated, you and your niece go free.If not...KAPOW!!" he pointed the gun at Fiona's head when he did this. That was it for Alex. He jumped forward and spit at the man.  
"My sister's an innocent bay! Who the bloody hell do you think you are scaring the bejesus out of her, all because you're nothing but a sore loser?"  
"Alex!" Jonathan said sternly, and when he noticed Alex reaching behind his back he put his hand on his shoulder, and shook his head.  
"Cute kid." Thomas said, sarcastically. "Money. Now!" Jonathan walked slowly to the edge of the light and sat the trunk down then walked backwards to where Alex stood. Alex looked up at him and he nodded.  
Thomas slowly open the trunk.  
"What the-" he held up white paper, shredded. When he looked up questioningly he stared down the barrels of two revolvers, one held by Jonathan, one held by Alex. 


	6. You Lose

Chapter 6: You Lose  
  
Thomas stared at them for a moment, surprised. Then he smiled evilly. From behind them Alex and Jonathan heard two more guns being cocked. When they looked over their shoulders they saw two men, one with a gun on them, and one with a gun on Fiona. Thomas laughed as he stood up. "Nice try," he said, "But you lose." He nodded at the two other men and said "Kill the girl."  
"NO!" Alex screamed, and Thomas knocked him out. Jonathan kicked Thomas in the face and fired, hitting him in the head and killing him instantly. He spun around just in time to shoot one of the other men, and then be shot himself in the right shoulder. The last of the men stood before him, a gun pointed at Fiona's head. Jonathan lay on the cold stone floor, bleeding and shivering., and looked at the man.  
"P-please.." Jonathan managed, shakily, "Please. She's just a baby. "  
"Yeah, " the man said coldly, "a baby worth at least a half a million pounds." Jonathan shook his head. "You can't put a price on the life of a child."  
"Well, that's real moving and all, but since I'm not getting paid, I guess you'll just have to watch your little baby die."  
"You bastard," Jonathan said, through his chattering teeth and tears. "Why are you doing this?"  
"A job is a job."  
"She's just a baby!" Jonathan yelled.  
"Perhaps I should pick on someone my own size? Someone kinda like you?" he turned the gun on Jonathan, who looked him in the eye.  
"Do it," Jonathan's eyes never left him. As the man put his finger to the trigger, a gunshot echoed throughout the warehouse and the man fell to the ground, dead. Alex dropped the gun, and fell to his knees, crying. Jonathan sat in shock for a moment then scrambled to Alex, wincing at the pain in his shoulder. He hugged Alex with his good arm.  
"I killed him, Uncle Jon," Alex sobbed, "I killed him."  
"Alex, you saved my life. And your sister's!" Jonathan said, trying to comfort him. You did the right thing."  
Alex calmed down a bit and wiped his face with his shirt then realized Fiona was still tied up. He ran to her and as soon as she was free she clung to him tightly.  
Alex carried her out to the car, since Jonathan could hardly walk himself. As soon as they got to the car, Jonathan passed out from blood loss. As he lay there, face down on the pavement, it began pouring down rain. He didn't feel it. Nor did he hear Alex calling his name, or the voice of the two men asking Alex what had happened and if he and the little girl were hurt.  
Jonathan saw nothing but darkness. He was falling. Falling into a sea of light. Bright white light. It filled the place and covered him like snow. Suddenly, all around him was still and quiet. Until out of the light came Rick and Evy, arm-in-arm, nodding in approval. Jonathan didn't understand. Not until his baby sister's voice drifted to him on the wind. "Good job, Jonathan." She said smiling, "Now go take care of my babies." They turned to leave.  
"No!" he called from within his dream, his arms outstretched. He began to run. "Noo! Don't leave me. I can't do it alone!"  
He woke up in the dark. Confused and in pain he fumbled for a light switch. When he found it, and light filled the room he realized his arm was in a sling and Alex and Fiona lay asleep in a bed next to his.  
"Hospital, " he told himself, "I'm in a hospital." He sighed, relieved, then settled back into bed. 


	7. In the end

Chapter 7 : In the end  
  
Alex and Fiona sat in the yard rolling a ball back and forth. Jonathan sat on the front steps holding hands with a dark haired woman. Alex smiled, looking over his shoulder.  
"Look Fiona, Uncle Jon's finally happy." He caught the ball and held it. "And now that he's got a wife, he'll never be sad."  
"Play!" Fiona yelled , grabbing the ball and throwing it at Alex's head, and knocking him over. He laughed and so did Jonathan and his new wife, and the sun set on their happiness and laughter.  
  
The-End 


End file.
